A New Beginning

Well, this is all new to me. I've never journaled or blogged before in my life but now is a good time to start. In 36 days I leave for Durban, South Africa to serve in a mission to spread the love of Christ. Excited, nervous, and scared I will embark on this journey not for myself, but for the glory of God.

I want to update everyone on what God has been doing in my life. In the past semester of college, God woke me up from my sinful hibernation (yeah go ahead and laugh kory, kami, and you too paul if your reading this from Uganda). At that point in my life, I decided to surrender everything to Him. This meant giving up many objects and activities that I thought was "fun" and made me "happy" and taking on a new self. This new self was the Holy Spirit. At that moment I rededicated my life to Christ. Not only did my new self give up my old sinful nature, but I also lost people in my life who I believed to be my friends. God soon revealed my true friends and also added new friends that followed Christ. These new friends that God provided for me in my life were not only spiritual leaders but also brothers and sisters. When I think about my new self, I am ashamed of how I chose to spend my time in college and I thank God every day for never giving up on me and for making my old sinful nature clean, allowing me to have a new start.

I have discovered and realized that there is nothing too big to sacrifice for Christ. We have no sacrifice that can even compare to the sacrifice that Jesus endured for our sins. He has the power to make your past clean and forgive you of anything. Did you hear that? ANYTHING. Nothing is too big for Christ to handle.

Through my time spent in college I have wasted many opportunities to share Christ love and passion, but now the time will never come when I stop sharing the good news of Christ. He is sending me to Africa this summer and opening many doors in my future. Although I am uncertain about many things, the one thing I know is that I will be serving Christ in every bit of my heart, body, mind, and soul.

I surrender my life,

Shawn Blanchard